FREE MARINE NAVIGATION CHARTS

Two agencies have now started producing FREE charts for download!!!
These are charts both for inland waters in the United States and for the coastal charts.
The links and instructions and some hints can be found below.

My favorite place to order charts and books is

A couple of links to help you understand how to read charts:Nautical Chart Basics takes you on an imaginary trip and shows you how to read the specific charts for that trip.
Advanced Navigation Courses are a set of online courses that cover basic skills and concepts.
Chart Errors - A short discussion on errors in charts. Paper vs. Electronic. Raster vs. Vector.
Build your own Charts - A couple of methods to create your own charts. These are not well documented, but include links to a forum where you can get help.
2011-11-23 NEW - Some charts in France - Some European ENC charts converted to Garmin format! - Also some dead links fixed. Look for red notes.

Below the chart location table is a discussion of raster and vector charts and the programs that can display them.

WHERE TO GET FREE CHARTS

The links below are for electronic navigation charts for use with a marine navigation program.
For other charts go to the Marine Navigation Chart Links page.
Includes online veiwable charts, downloadable charts, and places that sell charts and navigation software.

Raster Charts

Vector Charts

River Raster Charts
I haven't found the river charts in raster format, but they may be there somewhere. If you find them, please email me

River Vector Charts: Army Corps of Engineers
For River charts in vector (IENC®) format, go to the Army Corps of Engineers site.
Scroll down and click on the rectangular button that says "Download" (The link below the button is for charts in the shapefile format.
If you know what that is, you may want to use that link instead.)
This will take you to a page that will let you choose to download by graphical area or by chart numbers.
If you plan to download all the charts, the text version is much easier.
You can click on all of them and download them all in one session.

Coastal Raster Charts: NOAA Raster Navigational Charts
For Coastal Waters charts in raster (RNC™) format, go to the NOAA Raster Navigational Charts site.
Scroll down and click on the button that says "Proceed to NOAA RNC™ (BSB) Downloads"
This will take you to a page that will let you choose to download by graphical area or by chart numbers.
If you plan to download all the charts, the text version is much easier.
You can only download 100 charts at a time, so for the 1016 charts now available, it'll take you 11 download sessions.
NEW - new download page. Get them all in one download: at Chart Downloader for NOAA RNCs.
I am leaving the above links in place for now, but they are going away in favor of these new links.

Coastal Vector Charts: NOAA Electronic Navigational Charts
For Coastal Waters charts in vector (ENC®) format, go to the NOAA Electronic Navigational Charts site.
Scroll down and click on the button that says "Proceed to NOAA ENC® Downloads"
This will take you to a page that will let you choose to download by graphical area or by chart numbers. If you plan to download all the charts, there is a link to download all available charts (about 310mbs).
NEW - new download page. Get them all in one download: at Chart Downloader for NOAA ENCs.
I am leaving the above links in place for now, but they are going away in favor of these new links.

Copyright Notices:
The BSB file format is the sole property of Maptech, Inc. and as such is protected by U.S. and International foreign copyright and patent laws.
“NOAA ®” and the NOAA ® emblem are registered trademarks of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
NOAA RNC™ is a trademark of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
NOAA ENC® is a registered trademark of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“Maptech” and the Maptech emblem are registered trademarks of Maptech, Inc.
“BSB File Format” is a trademark of Maptech, Inc.

Some other FREE charts for download

Thanks to taifun for providing several of the following links.
If you have problems getting to the pages below, e-mail me. I have them all available, but to save on bandwidth, I don't want to post the link here.

Raster Charts of Brazil:

Vector Charts of South China Sea:

Raster Charts of Brazil and Antartica
Click "Cartas Náuticas" on the left side.
Then "Cartas Digitais " at the top.
Then "Download" at the top of the page.
Note: This is a secure http site, but their certificate is not valid.
So you will get warning messages (different messages for different browsers).
Since it is not asking for any personal information, this is no problem.
Just click whatever you have to to get it to let you use the site.

dead linkInland Vector Charts of Czech RepublicUpdated link.
4 charts here. Click on the pale blue "down arrow" icons and choose SAVE-AS.
Note: These are not zip files but the actual charts.
Firefox defaulted to opening it as a Firefox document.
This can hang up Firefox terribly.
Ask me how I know.

dead linkChoose "Downloads", then open directory "Digitale vaarkaarten"Inland Vector Charts of BelgiumUpdated link.
Looks like now you should click on IENC_Vlaanderen.zip to download, or download the individual charts from the various directories.

German Rivers - Canals
select a river (eg. donau) - a new page will open
Click the ceckbos at "Ich Bestatige", this is a confirmation that you will follow the rules/lizenz (eg. private use)
Then click button "ENC-Datei..."

NEWWaterways
Many European ENC river charts converted to Garmin format.

What are VECTOR charts and RASTER charts?

Raster Charts

Vector Charts

Raster Charts:
Raster charts are really just a scanned image of the paper charts.
And they take up a lot of room on your disk.
For a set of vector charts that takes about 1gb, the same set of raster charts might be 5-6gb.
When you zoom out, the text becomes unreadable. When you zoom in, it becomes pixelated (grainy).
But, they look just like the paper charts, so they are familiar.
They can also be read by just about any navigation software you may have.
The same format can also be used for topographic maps, arial photographs and sattelite images.
Note: The raster charts come in seperate folders.
To see these charts in Nobeltec, you'll have to specify each folder.
That's a major pain, so I copied all the charts into one folder and it works great.
It took a REALLY major amount of time to copy 6000+ files from 1100+ folders, so I am going to check on the legality of offering these already combined into one folder on DVD for a small material and handling fee.
If you would be interested in this, please email me
Update: It looks like I will be able to offer the DVD, I am just waiting to see if they accept my application.

Vector Charts:
Vector charts are stored by object, Say, like a buoy.
Each object has has information stored about it, like lat/lon, elevation, type, color, number, etc.
When you veiw those charts, the objects that should show on your screen are found and then drawn in the place they should show.
This has two advantages over raster charts.
First, they take up a LOT less room on disk.
Second, when drawing, the program can draw the text information the same size no matter what the zoom level.
Also, objects can be added in as you zoom in.
The objects can be made to be "clickable", so information can be called up by putting your mouse over them.
You can turn layers on/off, so you can turn off depth markings so the bouy numbers show better.
Some programs can turn lights on/off depending on whether you should be able to see them from your location.
There are two disadvantages, however.
First, right now there are a limited number of navigation programs that will use these charts (that is, the ENCs. Several manufacturers have their own propriatary type of vector charts).
I have tried out the Fugawi program (about $200) and it is pretty good.
It isn't nearly as feature rich or easy to use as my Nobeltec, but it works for the ENCs.
But it's use of the raster charts is poor, so I can't see using it as my only navigation solution.
The second disadvantage is that they haven't finished producing the charts, so coverage is spotty.
But both of these disadvantages will be fixed in the future.
Already there are more charts available than when I first looked a couple of months ago.
Note: The vector charts come in seperate folders.
Fugawi will find them in these folders.
If you copy them all to one folder to make them easier to find, Fugawi will NOT find them.
Ask me how I know...

Some On-Line Charts can be found Here

Almost all the online charts have been removed. Only the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers are left.